Amnesty International has told the United Nations that Australia is still failing to protect the rights of refugees it sent to Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Manus Refugees being moved to Port Moresby Photo: supplied
The NGO prepared a submission for the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Australia's human rights record, which all UN member states are subjected to.
Amnesty said it was "deeply concerned that refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia continue to suffer many human rights violations".
It said Canberra's policies of deterrence and detention, particularly those targeting people arriving by boat, punish people forced to flee persecution and who sought safety in Australia.
Over 370 people are still held offshore in PNG and Nauru as part of an agreement that all refugees arriving in Australia by boat be detained in the Pacific countries.
In its last review, Australia accepted many recommendations pertaining to refugee rights both onshore and offshore.
But Amnesty said that seven years later, many of these men and women were still suffering terrible conditions.
The NGO also raised concern about ongoing racial discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in Australia, whose health, life expectancy, education and employment indicators fall well below the national average.
In the previous UPR there were 80 recommendations to improve the rights and welfare of Indigenous Peoples.
Australia claimed it was on course to meet three of its 'Closing the Gap' targets for Indigenous Australians.
However, Amnesty said that according to the most recent 2019 Closing the Gap Report just two of those targets were on track, 12 years after they were first set.
Australia's UPR is scheduled for January-February 2021.